TSA shoved me, called me a "d**k head", and threatend to kill me!
 

Today I was traveling through Newark airport, I travel through this airport twice a week every week. I cleared through security and was heading toward my gate. By one of the closed security check points there were gathered a "gang" of 60 TSA agents having a meeting to update the "shoe" rules. I was standing on a walkway infront of the tv screens for arrivals and departures and I wanted to overhear the new rules. The man conducting the meeting saw me, as I stood in the public walkway, and said what I was doing. I said I was listening. He said this was a private meeting and to move along. I said this is a public space, I have every right to stand here and will not move and if he wants a private meeting not to hold it in a pubic area. Well we basically said the same things to each other a few times and he saw I wasn't going to move, so he went on with his meeting. Then his TSA thugs came over and harrased me. One invaded my personal space and stood right in front of me to block me view, saying "its a public space right" ( a true mark of the professional attitude). Another agent came by and said if I did not move they'd have to kill me! No joke. Another agent came by and asked me what country I was from. I'm not white, he was, and I feel he was playing a racial angle and he called me a "d*ck head". When the meeting ended, I kept my eye on this last TSA agent, he ran right into me intentionally shoving me. I knew he was trying to bait me, but I didn't take the bait. I took this man's name and badge # and the man who threated to kill me's badge #. At the end of the meeting the other 57 TSA agent taunted me saying, you want to join us in the back room?
I am planning to file a complaint with the TSA in Washington, the TSA in newark, the District Attorney in Newark, and the ACLU tomorrow. I belive since this was all on a walkway behind a check point that it is on airport video tape. I will not have my right to stand in a public space that I pay for taken way from me from the TSA SS storm troopers.
Besides the actions I have outlined, what should I do? Anyone have advice to contact the media or a lawyer who specializes in these matters? Thanks and stand up to oppression.

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Pictures are worth a thousand words ... or, as the case may be, thousands standing around. Tape recordings perhaps?

I too have witnessed these types of "meetings" held in public places. I actually considered doing what you did ... hanging around to observe.

I will make sure to have a ready means to record subsequent encounters, because of my interest, with our new government gestapo.

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

What did they say about the shoe rule?

If you can't get it on tape, it will be your word against 60 govenment employees (who of course, have impecable standards of integrity </sarcasm> ).

Of course, if there is a tape... it will look great on the evening news!

You need to get the video tape ASAP before it is destroyed by "accident" or "routine tape rotation." You may have only days or even hours to do that. I'm not sure how to do that though with an airport.

you need to get a lawyer ASAP! only the filing of a motion with the courts will injunct the airport to keep a copy of the tape and protect it as evidence. You better do it fast, as the tape could be over-written quickly. I doubt anyone in the TSA has the brains to guess they were on candid camera and make the tape disappear, but you never know.

If the meeting was held in a public open space, then you had every right to stand there a listen. Sounds like you need to either call the ACLU for a lawyer referral, or find your own in a hurry. At the absolute very least, there should be some pink slips handed out as a result of this.

Keep us all posted...this could also be something for the media, if you move ahead with a suit.

I agree with you in the sense that the TSA employees shouldn't have threatened you in any sort of fashion, But, We all have these meetings at every airport. We call them briefings. Where we put out new policies and discuss situations that may occur and other various things. Now at my airport we are able to hold these in an office. Some airports have an office on site but will not hold 60 employees. So they have to have the meetings near the checkpoint. Yes it may be a public place, but, you are not an employee with the TSA and most of this information is Security Sensitive. I know it may sound funny to you guys, but to us it isn't. Some of us take our jobs seriously (for the moment), we are not allowed to divulge certain information out to the public. Alot of people also say that we haven't done anything to protect the skies. And to each his own. But we don't want everyone and their brother knowing we did it. We have had several occasions where we've had to have bags destroyed and people arrested and charged with carrying explosives. And the news crews were never contacted, and when most of the passengers in the area asked what was going on we said the person had suspicious items and it was being dealt with. Now if we went around telling everyone there was a bomb in a guys bag but not to worry....they would have rushed out of the building causing chaos or tried to stick around the scene to see it. Back to the subject at hand, I do think that the TSA employees handled the situation wrong. My solution would have simply been pausing the meeting and coming over and asking for your government ID and security clearance. And when you didn't produce it I would have you escorted out of the area. I wouldn't resort to threats or physical violence or name calling. To you, what you did may seem harmless. But think about it...some of this information we put out in briefings actually is for security clearance only. And should we let that information out into the public that could cost someone their job. Are you going to go into the CIA and ask them what they put out in their briefings? No. How about the FBI, or DEA maybe? I'm not trying to act silly, I just want to get a point across that yes the situation was handled wrong but whether you choose to believe it or not. You had no business listening in on their briefing.

Uhh, anyone uttering SSI in a public space where the public could overhear it if they walked by (even in an airport) should be reported to the IG of the TSA at once, especially if that person is conducting a briefing of TSA employees.

And as far as I know, telling people to "just move along" doesn't excuse the criminal offense of disclosing the SSI publicly.

So today I have sent the IG an email detailing the contents of this thread (and the other threads started by the OP) with a request that the TSA cease the public disclosure of SSI at our nation's airports.

The safety of our great nation depends on patriots willing to report such traitors.

Fenito, do me a favour and don't bother responding to this troll. You've been honest and open and he's just trying to bait you and the rest of us into a ridiculous argument.

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...m/rolleyes.gif

If in fact the situation took place as described, why would the TSA have a meeting where sensitive non-public-disclosable information is discussed in an open area where anybody could listen in? And it doesn't have to be somebody standing in a "public space" obviously doing the listening. My kid, an aspiring spy...at least this week anyway http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif has one of those directional microphones that picks up sound from a fair distance. Seems to me that a bad guy could surreptitiously listen in to these in-the-open TSA briefings with one of these.

My point exactly, which is why federal law prohibits the disclosure of SSI in such settings.

Either the briefing concerned no SSI (my gut reaction) or the person conducting the meeting should be punished for compromising our nation's welfare.

CATSA Screener: please don't be using the "troll" word so losely as it is sure to lower levels of communication.

Here's my two-cents. Given that airports and the situation that the screeners are put into with the physical plant of airports, I too have seem these public meetings and frankly no problem with the way they try and open lines of communications among that group. As for the listening, I personally think we need to give them room to do their job and listening in isn't in our best interest. This is not "reality security" where the guts of what is going on is all the fodder for discussion. Reminds me of when i was in retail and again with limitations of staffing hours and the physical plant of a store we often had to have staff meetings out on the sales floor. I didn't like it but would certainly have gotten sensitive if customers were listening in when we were discussing the latest shoplifting situations.

My personal opinions are just that, but my professional opinion on how we address other members is very much worth listening to: please try and limit the use of the verb: "troll"

How about this point of view.

Guy tries to eavesdrop on the conversation.

TSA guy says move along,TSA move him off trying to be funny " it's a public space right "

Friendly "what Country are you from" it is an Airport after all and " we'll have to kill you " is a bad joke I've used several times.

The banter turns bad cos some TSA guy calls him a ........ and runs into him into him and suddenly it's racist.

Sounds more like a playground squabble beteeen a couple of kids not grown Adults.

Nigel

Agreed. It's to be expected of the former part-time low-wage private screeners, but not of the new professionalized, federalized screening force. And certainly not from the guy running the meeting (as alleged by the OP). http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/eek.gif

Obviously you did not read my response very closely. As I said, in some airports they do not possess the facilities to conduct a briefing in an enclosed area away from the public. For our checkpoint screeners we use a gate area that has been closed down which public doesn't have access to. If we could fit 100 screeners into our small onsite office we would. But it barely holds our 30 some baggage screeners for briefings. I will argue all day long if that's what you really want to do. I would rather just get my point across that maybe they didn't have a choice as to where they could conduct their briefing and it really isn't any of your business trying to listen in. And should someone be caught trying to listen in I'm sure it would be handled accordingly.